Passion Flower in Phoenix
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Cheryl Smith
Posted on: February 28, 2005

I live in Phoenix, AZ, USA and I have a passion flower vine. It did great until the frost got it. We have had a lot of rain and it still is brown and looks dead, is it? should I prune it back with hopes it may come around or just give up?

Zones 6 to 8 come very close in the Phoenix area and I would not be at all surprised with the wild temperature fluctuations we have had this winter(2004-2005) that the temperature got suddenly too cold for the plant, especially if the cold snap was preceeded by a fairly warm period. You do not say which passion flower you have, but I would presume it is either Passiflora x alatocaerulea or Passiflora edulis. For your area, in these times of unstable weather patterns, I would only recommend the American passion flower, Passiflora incarnata. Do mulch the base of the plant heavily to protect it from the wild fluctuations that often prove fatal to many plants. It kills plants that tend to come into growth too quickly, when warm weather follows a cold snap and the next cold snap will then kill the plant. Many plants are only cold hardy while dormant.

Do not give up on the plant yet, but do mulch it to prevent a repeat of the previous freezing. As long as the root survives, it will sprout again.

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